I just picked up a one-month-old kitten, how should I get along with it?

The following are some detailed instructions on how to artificially feed orphan cats. I hope it can help you:

1. Cat litter

Kittens should be raised in a A warm, windless nest. You can use a cardboard box, sterilized cat carrier, laundry basket, etc., line it with towels or blankets, and will need a heat source to keep the kitten warm since kittens cannot regulate their own body temperature until they are 4 weeks old. This heat source can be an electric blanket, a hot water bottle, or a heating lamp. Don't let the heat source get too close to the kittens to avoid burning them, and the heat source should be in a corner of the cat's nest so that if it gets too hot, the kittens can move to a cooler part of the nest. The temperature in the cat's bed should vary from 32-34°C (the hottest part) to 24-27°C on the other side. When the kitten is 4 weeks old, the external environment can be maintained at around 24°C. If there are several kittens in the litter, you may not need to keep the litter as hot as when there are only one or two kittens, because they can huddle together to keep themselves warm.

The humidity should be around 50% to prevent dehydration. If it's too dry, you can spray a little water outside the cat's nest or put an air humidifier.

It is best not to expose kittens under 3 weeks of age to direct sunlight.

2. Basic care

If the kitten has eaten some milk from its mother, it has a higher chance of survival because it has received some immunity from the colostrum. force. If kittens do not receive colostrum, they are more likely to get sick and die. Maintaining hygiene is especially important.

Hygiene precautions

1) Do not let orphan cats come into contact with other pets (even if these pets have been vaccinated). Kittens must be quarantined for at least 14 days and tested free of potentially fatal infectious diseases. Orphaned cats are likely to carry various germs and parasites.

2) Do not raise several litters of kittens together.

3) Use boiling water to clean and disinfect feeding utensils, cat litter mats and cat towels.

4) Wash your hands well with sterile soap between and after each time you touch the kitten.

5) Prepared cat milk cannot be stored for more than 24 hours. Prepared cat milk that is not used temporarily should be stored in the refrigerator.

6) Cat milk cannot be left at room temperature for more than 1 hour, and it cannot be fed to kittens after that time.

7) Only heat the amount that should be fed once, and heat it in hot water. It is best not to use a microwave oven (if you use a microwave oven, shake the heated milk for a while to remove any possible traces of the milk) Very hot milk spreads).

3. Feeding

Frequency

Kittens aged 0-2 weeks should be fed once every 2-3 hours and once in the evening

Kittens aged 2-3 weeks should be fed every 4 hours, no need to feed at night, but the feeding interval should not exceed 6 hours

Kittens aged 4-6 weeks should be fed every 6 hours , no need to feed at night. They can last 8-10 hours without feeding, and they should eat some cat food by themselves. You can openly supply cat food to them.

Frequent feeding of kittens can prevent hypothermia, but if fed too frequently, the milk in the stomach will never be emptied, which will cause the milk to ferment and cause flatulence, which is also bad.

Cat milk powder

Use the recommended cat milk substitute - cat milk powder. These cat milk powders are formulated according to the energy required for normal growth of kittens. Feed them according to the instructions of the milk powder. required amount. All prepared milk should be heated in hot water to 35-38°C before feeding to the kitten (if using a microwave, shake the bottle well after heating, because the microwave heats unevenly and will produce hot spots. If the kitten drinks The bit of milk that is hot will be burned). If you want to know whether the temperature of the milk is right, you can put a drop on the inside of your wrist. If you can't feel it or it feels lukewarm, the temperature is right.

If you cannot buy cat milk powder at the moment, you can temporarily use the following formula as a substitute:

180ml whole milk (goat milk is better)

2 egg yolks (no egg whites)

1/2 teaspoon (tsp) vegetable oil

1 drop children's vitamins

Stir thoroughly and heat with hot water to 35-38°C.

Cat food

Cats need to eat milk until they are four weeks old. You can mix cat milk and a little canned cat food from the fourth week and put it in a shallow dish and heat it to lukewarm temperature (if you heat it in a microwave, it only takes a few seconds. Stir evenly after heating, because the microwave heats unevenly) , let them try and get used to the taste of canned cats, and slowly they will eat from the basin. Gradually decrease the amount of cat milk and increase the amount of canned cat food. After a week, you can add dry kitten food soaked in warm water to the basin, gradually stop adding cat milk to the bowl, and reduce the amount of cat milk in the bottle until it is gone. By the time kittens are six weeks old, they should be eating their own kitten food and drinking water from a bowl. This process should be done step by step and don't be too hasty. (Yingzi added: Do not use a cat food bowl that is too large for kittens. Experience has proven that kittens often use overly large cat food bowls as cat toilets, defecating or urinating in them, or eating directly while standing in the cat food bowl. )

Drinking from the basin

When kittens are four or five weeks old, they should be able to drink from the basin on their own. Provide them with a low but heavy saucer that the kitten can stand in without knocking it over. Try to place the plate in a corner and some distance away from the food bowl. At the beginning, you can dip your fingers in water and apply it on its nose, and lead it to the place where the water basin is placed. Because it has already started eating from the basin at this time, it should quickly learn to drink from the basin.

Feeding method

No matter which method you use to feed the baby, the most important thing is not to let the milk flow into the kitten's lungs. Hold the kitten's belly with your hands, place it in a prone position, and raise its head slightly.

1) Feeding with a spoon

This is a very slow method that requires a lot of patience. Each time, the milk from the spoon must be slowly poured into the kitten’s mouth. Do not pour too much. Hurry, lest the milk flow into the kitten's lungs

. Don't raise the kitten's head too high, otherwise it will feed into the lungs. Newborn kittens are not fully developed and will not show signs of sadness or coughing when milk is fed into their lungs. Suitable for weak kittens that cannot suck on their own.

2) Use a syringe to drip milk

Similar to feeding with a spoon, it is suitable for weak kittens that cannot suck by themselves, but it is cleaner and faster. Fill the syringe with the kitten's amount of milk, put it in the cat's mouth, and drop one drop at a time so that the kitten can swallow it calmly without choking. Write down the amount you feed each time. If the kitten knows that the milk comes from here, it may start to wash the tip of the syringe to suck the milk out. At this time, you'd better switch to feeding it with a bottle.

3) Feeding with a bottle

Healthy kittens who can suck milk like to use a bottle. This is also a more natural way of feeding. The kitten will eat by itself until it is full. The size of the nipple hole is important. You need to cut a hole yourself. The size of the hole is enough to turn the bottle upside down so that only one drop of milk drips out at a time. If the hole is too large, milk will flow out of the hole one after another, causing the kitten to suck it into its lungs when breathing. If you need to squeeze the bottle to let the milk flow out, the hole is too small, which will make the kitten have a hard time eating and not eat enough.

4) Feeding through a feeding tube

It is the easiest, cleanest and fastest, but it requires appropriate tools and skilled skills to avoid pouring milk into the lungs. If the kitten is very weak, sometimes this is the only way to feed it.

After each feeding, it is best to wipe the kitten’s mouth with a warm wet tissue to wipe away the leaked milk. Don't feed too much at once, especially in the beginning. After feeding, use your hands or a dry towel to imitate the mother cat's licking motion and massage the kitten's body, or gently massage the kitten's sides until it burps.